Adelaide Anzac Day dawn service and parade secured with $65k cash injection by RSL National branch and RSL Care SA

THE major Anzac Day commemoration in the city will go ahead as planned, thanks to a $65,000 bailout brokered less than a week out from the event.

Renato Castello

The AdvertiserApril 20, 201711:10pm

THE major Anzac Day commemoration in the city will go ahead as planned thanks to a $65,000 bailout brokered less than a week out from the event.

The Advertiser can reveal that RSL National and war veterans housing provider RSL Care SA will contribute $55,000 and $10,000 respectively towards staging the dawn service and parade in the city on Tuesday.

They were forced to intervene after RSL SA — which has historically organised and funded the Anzac Day along with State Government backing — was placed into voluntary administration last week after a review of its finances.

A meeting of RSL SA creditors will be held on April 27; two days after Anzac Day.

RSL National chief executive George Macris said the $65,000 funding deal — agreed in Canberra yesterday — will ensure Anzac Day proceeds “uninterrupted” despite the tight timeline to prepare for the SA event which attracts thousands of spectators.

She said the money would be used to pay for infrastructure such as television screens, lighting speakers and staging areas.

“We will pay for proceedings to make sure that members and the broader community and subbranches have the same level of Anzac Day as they have had previously,” she said.

“The proceedings have been organised in line with what’s been done every year, the same schedule and the same level of activities.

“National will do whatever it takes to make sure the subbranches and their members are unaffected over the period of administration.”

Alyssa Kirkpatrick, 8, shows her appreciation at last year’s Anzac Day parade in the city.Source:News Corp Australia

The RSL National president Robert Dick had previously vowed that Anzac Day commemorations would be unaffected by the financial trouble that has engulfed its SA branch and which has led for calls from some subbranches for the board to be sacked.

More than half the RSL SA board has left the organisation and former chief executive Julia Langrehr quit this year over disagreements regarding the board’s decisions.

RSL Care SA chief executive Nathan Klinge said his organisation, which is a separate body to RSL SA, would do what it could to support the veteran community.

“We’re looking forward to seeing how we can work with RSL National in the current environment to ensure, at the end of the day, we have got a strong RSL supporting the veteran community,” he said.

He said it is the first time that RSL Care SA has funded the Anzac Day program.

State Government body Veterans SA is also providing $100,000 towards commemorative events, including Anzac Day.

The RSL SA branch, which will go under a complete restructure overseen by administrator Rodgers Reidy, is still under investigation by the federal regulator the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission.